The invention relates to an electrical drive for a vertically displaceable blackboard. In today's conventional very wide and relatively low blackboards such as are used in lecture halls there is the problem of canting of the board in its guides. In such wide blackboards, for example, a shaft mounted above the lateral guide beams guarantees synchronous operation of both of the cables or chains arranged on the sides of the blackboard. In Swiss Pat. No. 600,832 a drive system with two parallel connected hydraulic motors is described. In drives with electric motors use has been made of the possibility of a so-called electric shaft.